THE MACHINES.
Those magnificent, eye-watering machines that cost an arm, a leg & perhaps another limb for good measure.
Rolls-Royce. Bentley. Maybach. Ferrari. Lamborghini. Range Rover. The more exotic, the better.
And when you already have more money than you can reasonably spend, converting some of it into something spectacular becomes very tempting. Luxury automobiles are not merely status symbols. They are valuable assets. They can be traded. They can be imported. They can be bought & resold. They can move through businesses, intermediaries & corporate structures.
And that creates another potential channel through which questionable money can acquire a respectable commercial explanation. Set up an automobile business. Import luxury cars. Sell them. Buy more. Create turnover. Create invoices. Create transactions. Create a story.
And suddenly, a fortune that would otherwise be difficult to explain appears to be sitting inside a legitimate commercial enterprise.
Again: This does not mean luxury automobile dealers are criminals. Some aren’t. It simply means that high-value assets can be attractive to people seeking to move, store or disguise wealth.
And then we arrive at another favourite playground of the extraordinarily wealthy: JEWELLERY.
Ah! The diamonds. The emeralds. The rubies. The watches. The necklaces. The bracelets. The rings. Those magnificent stones that look as though they have their own passports.
Do you really think every one of them is merely about showing off? Of course, much of it is. Luxury is a legitimate business.
People with legitimate wealth buy spectacular jewellery & watches. But high-value, portable luxury goods can also hold enormous amounts of value in remarkably small packages.
A watch can cost millions. A diamond can cost tens of millions. A necklace can be worth more than a house. And suddenly, enormous wealth has been converted into something beautiful, portable & valuable.
But there is something even more interesting. Once you establish yourself publicly as a luxury businessman/woman, jeweller, fashion entrepreneur or. dealer in expensive objects, the story becomes easier to tell.
A ₦5 million pair of shoes? Business. A ₦100 million watch? Inventory. A ₦300 million automobile Asset. A ₦200 million jewel?Merchandise.
The question is no longer where the money came from. The question becomes how well the business is doing. And that is when money laundering becomes much more sophisticated.
TO BE CONTINUED…
